


Maybe Next Time, You'll Remember

by beazibo



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Restaurant, Author Is Sleep Deprived, CEO heir Park Seonghwa, Jung Wooyoung is Whipped, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, M/M, Ramen, Waiter Jung Wooyoung, architect park seonghwa, best friend san, fluff-ish, mingi is only mentioned:/, so she made a story of being sleep deprived
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23667301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beazibo/pseuds/beazibo
Summary: If Wooyoung had to be honest, the only reason why he even took this nightmarish hour of a shift that is 11 pm is that one; it’s always really empty at this hour and two; he could kind of sleep in between and still make money.And maybe three; to see Seonghwa in that one booth in the corner of the diner.
Relationships: Jung Wooyoung & Park Seonghwa, Jung Wooyoung/Park Seonghwa
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41





	Maybe Next Time, You'll Remember

If Wooyoung had to be honest, the only reason why he even took this nightmarish hour of a shift that is 11 pm is that one; it’s always really empty at this hour and two; he could kind of sleep in between _and_ still make money. Call it genius; he thinks it’s his own master plan to getting rich by doing absolutely nothing. Kinda.

Thing is, when it comes to 24-hour restaurants like the one he works at, there will always be that one particular customer. That customer who oh so kindly have chosen to be there at such an ungodly hour. Clubs would have made more sense, but an insignificant, kind-of-old, not-too-shabby diner would be a sight. Especially if you wear perfect crisp suits.

The diner was where Wooyoung first met him. He was hunched over his shoulders and had his head buried in some book of sorts.

It sparked his curiosity, of course, how a smartly dressed man could end up in a place like this instead of the bar. It was a Friday night! Nonetheless, Wooyoung approached the man, questions within him pushed to the side as he took his order.

At a closer look, he could see the man a little clearer. By Lord, even a blind person could tell he was attractive by his aura – he radiates a sense of cool and composure. He had fluffy midnight black hair, it looked soft, falling over his eyes right after running his hand through it. The man was beautiful, almost unreal, like a heavenly figure. His features were sharp, glowing under the lights. Pink lips, high cheekbones, sharp eyes, honeyed skin – he was probably the closest thing to human perfection. If he was human at all… he could pass as an angel.

But he could tell he was exhausted; hollow eyes staring tiredly at his book. Looks as if he’s about to do a smack-down against the object on the table. So before it could really end up like that, he Wooyoung clears his throat.

“Hi, good evening. I’m Wooyoung, what could I get you tonight?” he greeted him, breaking the man from his thoughts.

The handsome man quickly tore his eyes from whatever he was reading and recited his order. Interesting; a jumbo bowl of hot spicy ramen, mocha shake with extra ice and extra sugar. What was he trying to get? A sugar rush with a hint of diabetes? The thought stayed in Wooyoung’s head as he took his order to the back room.

Wooyoung observed the man closely from where he sat at the back of the counter. It was half an hour past midnight and hardly anyone passed by the front of the diner. A few drunkies came once in a while, he had to chase one away because they were so close to breaking the bubble gumball machine, but other than that, it was just him, the stranger, the chef in the kitchen and the humming of the heater.

The waiter stifled his own chuckles, watching the man slurp up his food. Maybe he choked, maybe he didn’t, but either way he was huffing from his mouth and quickly sipped his very sweet milkshake. He had been trying to stay awake after all.

But that night, Wooyoung hadn’t dared to spark up a conversation with the lonely stranger.

He was back waiting tables two days after, this time carrying his heavy load of assignments to do as he tried to pass the time. Most of his assignments were due that upcoming week – he had two due for tomorrow and yet he had only spent the weekends thinking of how funny the stranger looked to him while he tried to keep himself up through the night.

What he had least expected was that same man to come strolling in, again. He still looked as tired as the last time Wooyoung saw him, but still looked handsome nonetheless. Even more, if Wooyoung had to be honest.

The stranger was wearing a black turtleneck, layered with a black suit, his fluffy hair now slicked back. He sat at the same booth as last time, slumped a little and clearly worn out. It would be lying if Wooyoung said he didn’t feel a small tickle on his heartstrings but he quickly slapped himself inwardly. Focus, Jung Wooyoung.

Taking a deep breath, Wooyoung left his assignments behind and took his notepad, approaching the stranger with his signature Wooyoung smile.

“Hello!” he chirped, “I’m Wooyoung, what can I get you today?”

“Hi, yes, can I get a jumbo bowl of spicy noodles and mocha milkshake?” the man answered. Wooyoung bit his lip as he wrote the order down, ignoring how the small hint of accent on the man’s voice made his heart flutter. He didn’t remember his voice being like this – so soft and calming. Like a refresher on this sleepy night.

“Can you add extra ice and extra sugar on it?” he continued.

“Of course, of course!” Wooyoung told him, scribbling down his request messily. “Will that be all?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Alrighty, I’ll be back with your order in just a little bit!” he bowed slightly and scurried to place the stranger’s order.

Wooyoung laughed a little, it was the same thing he ordered the last time.

After sneaking in an extra strip of fish cake into the man’s bowl, Wooyoung brought out his order hardly ten minutes later. He needed it, the boy thought, he must’ve had a hard day. A hard weekend, maybe. The tray was heavy and it almost made Wooyoung sway out of balance but he made it to the stranger’s booth with no accidents (if you don’t include the little stumble he had over accidentally meeting his eyes).

“Here you go!” Wooyoung placed down the bowl of ramen, still piping hot, as well the incredibly cold milkshake on to the table.

“Thank you,” the stranger breathed gratefully.

As Wooyoung turned around to walk back to the counter, the stranger’s voice stopped him.

“Actually…”

The waiter turned around, returning to the booth with a smile. “Do you need anything else?”

“Do you know what the Wi-Fi password is?” the stranger asked, pointing to a ‘Free Wi-Fi’ sign two booths down.

Wooyoung shifted on his spot, “well… I don’t know it by heart but I’ll take a look for you if you don’t mind me heading back for a quick sec.”

“Oh, I don’t mind, thank you.”

“You’re welcome!” Wooyoung shot him his best smile and he spun on his heels.

The Wi-Fi password was pretty simple, actually – ‘J99W11Y26’. ‘J’ for ‘Jung’, ‘99’ for his birth year, ‘W’ for ‘Woo’, ‘11’ for his birthday month, ‘Y’ for ‘Young’ and ‘26’ for his birth date. Wooyoung changed the password from the ridiculously long numbers into this when his friend, Mingi, taught him how to change it.

Why did he say he didn’t know it by heart if he was the one who made it?

He needed a breather. Wooyoung couldn’t possibly remember all those number and letters (despite being the one who made them) right after the stranger looked at him with the most sincere smile in his eyes. No, Wooyoung panicked and wanted to shrink.

At the counter, Wooyoung messily scribbled on the password. He grunted – how he wished he would’ve taken his time to do handwriting practices in primary school, they look atrocious. He sighed, crumpled the piece of paper and with as steady hands as possible, he wrote it again.

At least it looked a little nicer.

“Here you go,” Wooyoung handed the stranger the piece of paper.

“Sorry it took a while, I had to look for the slip of paper,” he lied.

“Again, thank you so much,” the man smiled. Wooyoung was going to die.

“Is it alright if I stay back a little after finishing my food?” he asked again, “I need to finish some things… it’s okay if I can’t though! I understand some restaurants just have this regulation…”

Truth be told, usually, he would kick a person right out after finishing their meals. After all, 24-hour cafes and coffee shops were literally _made_ for that sole purpose. But the stranger just looked so exhausted when he came in, he didn’t have the heart to. And plus, he could stare at him longer.

Don’t tell anyone he thought of that.

“Of course!” Wooyoung waved him off as if it doesn’t really bother him even by the tiniest bit.

“Thanks, man, you’re a real one,” the stranger thanked him and began to eat.

Wooyoung didn’t know what exactly made him stuck to his spot. He should move, yes, most definitely, that’s what he had been telling himself to do for the past passing seconds but he somehow couldn’t bring himself to. He gritted his teeth, the same question had been spinning around and around in his head he can almost faint from it.

It seemed that the stranger had noticed that Wooyoung hadn’t left his spot next to the table. He froze mid-bite, noodles hanging from his chopsticks. The stranger lifted his head and looked at him with wide eyes.

“Is there something you’d like to say?” he asked.

Wooyoung finally blinked, flinching a little to the fact that he had been caught. He twirled his fingers together, gathering up his twenty seconds of courage (believe me, all he wanted to do was squeak out a quick ‘nothing’ and scurry back to the counter).

“….Do you mind? If I sit here?” he finally spoke, quiet at first but made his voice heard when the stranger leaned forward to listen to him more. Before the latter could even speak, Wooyoung had cut him off.

“You just look like you need a little bit of company, I can tell you’re pretty tired and I’d understand if you don’t want me to. It’s fine, I can go back and you can have your privacy – not that I’ve been meaning to disturb it or anything. Having people around when you’re exhausted can be pretty annoying and all you need to do is tell me. Oh God, I hope I’m not invading your privacy I just wanted to know if you’d like some compa –“ Wooyoung paused, finally realizing the amused smirk on the stranger’s lips.

He bit his bottom lip. “I’m rambling, aren’t I?”

The stranger then let out one of the most beautiful (yet tired) laughs he’s ever heard. Ever. Wooyoung let out a confused hum, he had expected for the man to look at him with disgust, a look of being disturbed, but he was met with a dazzling smile.

“I’d like that,” he simply said.

Wooyoung felt his heart suddenly pick up in speed, it was almost dizzying to the point he swore he could see his vision pulsing. He couldn’t help but let a grin make its way on to his face as he hurried to get his papers and returned back to the empty spot across from the stranger to sit himself down.

“I understand you’re busy, I won’t disrupt you or anything,” Wooyoung re-mentioned, spreading his worksheets in front of him, “you just go on with your eating, your work whatever… I’ll do this.”

The stranger smiles. “You’re interesting.”

At that, Wooyoung bit his lip. “Thank you.”

“I’m Wooyoung,” he introduced himself, offering a hand across the table for the stranger to take.

“Seonghwa,” and they shook hands. “And I’m tired.”

“I can see that.”

Seonghwa – that name seemed to fit the stranger perfectly. Pretty, pretty name. And his hand was so nice, it had a strong grip, sure, but it was the kind that reminded you of your father and all the times he protected you when you were little.

“Well, Seonghwa,” Wooyoung loved how the man’s name seemed to roll perfectly off his tongue like it was something he was born to say. “I’ll be right back.”

“Sure.”

The waiter quickly scrambled back to get his books and papers from the counter and once he’s back with Seonghwa, he carefully places them on the table.

The man quirked his eyebrow, watching him silently as he brought a chopstick of noodles into his mouth. “Whatchu working on?” he asked.

“An essay,” Wooyoung replied simply.

“On what?”

“It’s not really interesting…” Wooyoung rubbed his nape nervously, feeling small as Seonghwa peeked over his paper curiously.

“What do you mean this is not really interesting?” the latter commented, flicking through the papers. Seonghwa's fingers daintily stirred the milkshake by the straw as he scanned the chunks of words, “’the Korean culture in international tourism?”

Wooyoung pulled back his paper, biting his lip as he did so. “It’s stressful, but it’s something I’ve been working on for a while… it’s due this week.”

“I think this is great,” Seonghwa told him, mouth full of his drink but Wooyoung found that endearing. He felt his heart grow soft – this man was something. “I personally think this is not in my circle but I can definitely say this is well crafted. You’re good with your words.”

He cursed himself, feeling a burning sensation creeping up his cheeks at the compliment. “Thank you.”

Wooyoung learned quite a few things about Seonghwa by the time he returned home later that night (which had then turned into the witching hours of early morning).

Just as he expected, Seonghwa was the nephew of the CEO of a pretty well-known brand who had no one but Seonghwa to take up his position. He was training for the position, juggling the company work with his studies. Seonghwa was studying to be an architect, he showed Wooyoung some of his work on his laptop and needless to say, Wooyoung was wowed. Not only was this man good-looking, but he was also intelligent, well-educated and respectable.

All the qualities fit to be in Wooyung’s ideal type, actually.

Plus, he swore he can listen to his dreamy voice all day. There was something strangely melodious about it, like a soft lullaby.

Ever since that night, Wooyoung had been replaying his sleepy conversation with the man. He recalled his big doe eyes drooping as he tried to concentrate on his work all the whilst cracking jokes with him. And his hilarious half-pained looking smile when he found something amusing.

“Kick me if I’m getting sleepy,” the man had said, to which Wooyoung laughed at and ended up kicking Seonghwa awake for several times that night.

Wooyoung chuckled as he retold that story to his best friend, San, as they walked home from classes at the end of a sunny Thursday.

Last night, Seonghwa hadn’t come to the restaurant, which Wooyoung found strange. Seonghwa always came at 12:05 in the morning (not that he had paid attention) but he gave up on waiting for the man to show up when the clock stroke 2. It's quite interesting, actually, as now the third reason why Wooyoung worked the hideous hours was to see Seonghwa. Maybe now the guy got his shit together? Wooyoung regretted not asking him for his number so he could ask how he was doing.

As he told his story, San kept on glancing at him with a knowing look. And Wooyoung, as much as he knew it’s true, hated the way his best friend could make his way through his mind, read him like it was an effortless thing to do.

“What?” Wooyoung questioned, playing dumb.

“You’re daydreaming again,” San teased his best friend. He looped an arm around his own, a small skip in his steps, “is it Seonghwa again?”

Wooyoung pretended not to hear but his straight face fell as he suppressed a smile at the thought of Seonghwa.

_Seonghwa, Seonghwa, Seonghwa._

“You’re doing it again!” San cried out, jumping up and down excitedly, “oh my God, Woo, do you have a crush on him?!?”

At his question, Wooyoung felt his heartbeat quicken – San was right on. It was undeniable now, isn’t it? Wooyoung had always been attracted to Seonghwa ever since he stepped inside the restaurant, it’s no longer a surprise when he found himself wanting to meet him more and more.

The two best friends rounded a corner and Wooyoung was about to go on longer about Seonghwa when the sight in front of him made him halt his steps.

“What is it?” San asked, slightly panicking as he felt the tight grip of Wooyoung’s hand around his wrist.

“It’s him!”

“Who? Seonghwa?” San’s eyes followed Wooyoung’s gaze and there indeed was, a tall handsome figure.

He was all too familiar to Wooyoung and under the sunlight, he seemed to glow more than ever. It’s safe to say that Seonghwa knocked the air out of his lungs – he was gorgeous.

The man was out of his usual outfit that Wooyoung had come familiar with and now was in front of him and San, wearing a simple white hoodie fitted perfectly on his lean body. He looked less tired, different to the Seonghwa Wooyoung had come to know. But fresh looked great on him and Wooyoung was glad he took some rest.

“You should talk to him,” he heard San say, nudging him slightly in Seonghwa’s direction.

“What? No!” Wooyoung protested. He tried to push against San to run away, but he cursed himself knowing that San was stronger than him, way stronger, and he pushed Wooyoung with so much ease.

Silently, Wooyoung was calling San a whole lot of different names, grumbling under his breath. Frankly speaking, he had not expected to see Seonghwa at all (maybe he was expecting him tonight but, that’s not until hours from now) and he didn’t get himself mentally prepared.

In no time, he was in front of Seonghwa, wide-eyed at how fast he got there.

He froze. He knew Seonghwa was a beautiful man, but never had he gone this close to him. Wooyoung was so close he could almost see the speckles of green in his bright, brown eyes. All this time he thought they were just _brown_ but they glimmered under the sun.

Seonghwa looked just about as shocked as him and Wooyoung didn’t know if this was something good or something bad. He realised he was too close to Seonghwa’s personal space, stumbling backwards awkwardly and ignored San’s snicker in the distance.

“Is there something you’d like to say?”

Wooyoung snapped out of his trance when the voice rang through his head. He had been staring for too long.

“S-Seonghwa!” he slapped himself internally at the stutter slipping out of his lips, “hi!”

He expected Seonghwa to greet him back. Wooyoung missed his smile and the crinkle of his eyes when he did so.

It was odd, did Seonghwa not know him? Wooyoung scoffed in his mind – there was no way he didn’t recognise him. It was just impossible. But the longer the silence stretched, Wooyoung noticed something was wrong.

“Seonghwa?”

The man in the hoodie looked confused. “Excuse me,” he said, “do… do I know you?”

Wooyoung’s jaw almost dropped. He blinked, was he being serious? He felt his pulse pick up the pace and the heat on his cheeks was definitely not from being flustered. He felt embarrassed, disappointed, _crushed_.

Of course, why would a person like Seonghwa remember who he was? He knew he was getting his hopes up, Wooyoung regretted not preparing himself for a harsh landing. A very harsh one.

It was just a way to prove him that the many hours he spent thinking of the man was just him in his silly little daydreams. Maybe there really was no chance for him and Seonghwa from the beginning after all, since the man clearly didn’t remember who he was. He felt like he just wasted a lot of his time just wondering about him, whether if it’s what he’d be doing, or if he’s eaten, or if he’s got any pets.

“You really don’t remember?” Wooyoung found himself asking, just once, in a smaller voice. Just to make sure.

Seonghwa, the man in front of him, regretfully shook his head with a small shrug. “I’m sorry, I don’t,” he confessed, “you look familiar, I tell you that. Like I’ve seen you around before, that or I’ve seen you in a dream. Other than that, I’m sorry…”

Oh. Seonghwa thought he was a dream. That it was all a dream?

Wooyoung tried to mask his hurt with a sharp nod of his head. He bit on his lip to stop unexpected emotions to overwhelm him.

It made sense. Seonghwa had been coming in the most horrendous of times, worst timing in the whole world. Other normal people would be asleep in those unearthly hours, and Wooyoung, if he had to be honest, he would be sleeping too if he didn’t work at the restaurant.

The man was tired, maybe even sleep deprived. It just all made sense and Wooyoung felt himself be more heartbroken than he should be. Why was he so affected?

With one last look of Seonghwa’s beautiful orbs (Wooyoung took a nice, long gaze at it like he was trying to memorise it), he gave him a slightly broken small smile. “It’s okay, I must’ve mistaken you for someone else,” he said.

It hurt, but it had to be done.

“Sorry for disturbing you,” and Wooyoung spun on his heel, leaving Seonghwa with a puzzled expression.

San was waiting for him with a hopeful look but as soon as his best friend saw his close to crying state, he was shocked.

“Woo…” he said softly, but Wooyoung shushed him, not wanting to talk about it.

Right now, he wished he could only remember Seonghwa like he was only a dream. Wooyoung tried to convince himself that, there was no way he was real. No way, no absolute way.

Although, he thought he heard the familiarity of Seonghwa’s soft-spoken voice calling back for him, he shook his head.

_It’s not real, Jung Wooyoung. You were only a dream.  
_

Maybe another time.

**Author's Note:**

> HEHEHE this is like,, my first one-shot:C it's not much i kNOW i'm still working on my one-shot working skills because i tend to stretch out my stories as long as they possibly can sjkfhdjsg so i hope i did a decent job with this hehehehe. i hope you liked it??


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